Blog

Book review: A chip shop in Poland. My unlikely year in Poland. by Ben Aitken

“When I go around Poland my impressions are shallow. They are handicapped by my incomprehension. I’m locked-out from the poetry, from the small print. Being an outsider here is good for some things – I’m curious, unjaded, on edge – but bad for one thing in particular: I can’t hear...

Read more

Book review: Gdziekolwiek mnie rzucisz by Dionisios Sturis

Dionisios Sturis was born in Greece, but grew up in Poland. He’s a documentary writer. After graduating from university, he moved to the Isle of Man to work in a shellfish factory, as many other Poles did back then. However, his story is different, because after a few years he...

Read more

Learn a language: Can I learn Polish, Czech, French, Russian & Portuguese on YouTube?

Today, I’d like to see if we can improve our language skills via YouTube channels.  I hope to inspire you to use some free resources that are available online. I’ll first focus on the languages that I’m familiar with (Polish, Czech, French and Russian) or plan to learn (Portuguese). Yes,...

Read more

Learning a language: Learn Polish with BLS online & FREE!

As you remember, we introduced a new series of blog posts (see Spanish, French, German, Russian, Italian, Portuguese, Mandarin Chinese & Arabic) where we teach you some useful phrases in different languages. Sounds amazing? And it’s POLISH today! Do you want to be able to talk with your Polish family? Do you travel frequently to Warszawa, Kraków or...

Read more

The Language Journey – Suzannah’s Story (in 6 Languages)

Hello, my name is Suzannah and I’m a linguist and freelance translator.  In this video, I answer questions about my journey to speaking 6 languages. I give one answer in each of the languages I speak: French, Dutch, English, Polish, Italian and Spanish. Firstly, in French, I talk about how...

Read more

A Day in the Life of an Interpreter – An Interview with Agnieszka Teixera-Vaz

Agnieszka teaches Polish at BLS. She is also a Polish-English interpreter, working in various settings: the police, the courts, hospitals, etc.  We caught up with her after a long day in the field to ask her what a typical day looks like for her. Please tell us a bit about...

Read more

Interview with Polish & English Singer Katy Carr

Even though you only lived in Poland for the first few years of your life, this experience has obviously had a great impact on you. Do you think of yourself as Polish? 🙂 I am very proud to have Polish blood and so pleased that my Polish heritage has become...

Read more

Language learning: Which exam should I take to prove my level?

When you are learning a language, sometimes you want to have something official to show for it, to demonstrate which level you have got up to according to recognised examination bodies.  This can be useful if you are applying for a place at a university, which often require proof of...

Read more

Language learning: Which language to choose? With helpful videos in six languages

Estimates say that there are up to 7,000 languages spoken in the world today (in around 200 states!).  Some languages have millions of speakers and some have just a few thousand speakers.  But with so many languages to choose from, how do you decide which one to learn?  This blog...

Read more

On Languages: Polish

What makes Polish SO hard? It seems that Polish grammar is the one responsible for these rumours! Many people are led to believe that Polish grammar is impossibly complex and simply un-learnable, but truth be told, it follows a set of logical and regular rules. Let us explain a few...

Read more